Entrepreneurship research in Latin America: a literature review
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the state of entrepreneurship research in the Latin American context, with special emphasis on international entrepreneurship research developed in this region. Therefore, the aim and contribution are to identify the main themes in the literature about entrepreneurship and show the evolution of entrepreneurship research in Latin America to stimulate the research and provide future research lines. Design/methodology/approach The methodology is based in a systematic literature review, using 128 articles published between 2002 and 2018, in scientific journals in the region according to SCImago Journal & Country Rank. Findings The results show the evolution through the journals, authors, topics and methodologies used by the researchers. It is emphasized that there is a very low level of research in international entrepreneurship in Latin America. This result is coherent with higher levels of entrepreneurship in Latin American countries but very few oriented to international markets. This is one of the challenges considering the importance of this field. Originality/value Entrepreneurship is a field of study that has grown throughout history. Even so, in the Latin American context, research published in high impact journals is limited. This paper is the first systematic literature review and thematic analysis of research on the field of entrepreneurship in the Latin American context. In this way, it serves as encouragement for future research, providing possibilities and challenges within the field of study.